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Washington – The fate of the global economy, European unity — and the 401(k) savings of ordinary Americans — all hang in the balance as Europe's leaders meet over the weekend to try to resolve a burgeoning debt crisis that threatens to spread globally.
The leaders are expected to decide at their European Union summit by next Wednesday whether and how to expand the controversial bailout fund they created earlier this year. They also must decide how to add extra cash to their faltering banks — in need of somewhere between $100 billion and $300 billion — in order to prevent collapses or runs by nervous depositors.
And they must decide whether Greece, the region's basket case that sparked the crisis, gets more rescue support and how much.
That's a pretty full plate. So full that leaders of France and Germany, the preeminent powers of the 27-member European Union, will continue meeting into next week rather than finishing their EU summit as planned on Sunday.
Technically, EU leaders have pledged to reach some resolution before leaders of the 20 most advanced economies — the G-20 — meet in Cannes, France, on Nov. 3-4. But investors across the globe are increasingly restless, and if EU leaders don't make visible progress soon, financial markets across the globe could spiral down as soon as Monday.
There's much more at stake in Europe than just the debt woes of a few countries. Six decades of work to integrate European economies, which collectively include 500 million consumers and economic activity in excess of $17 trillion — more than the USA, could unravel if leaders fail to find a solution.
"You've got a short-term problem, which is Greece … and a longer-term problem where there are some serious structural and design flaws in the European Union," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist for forecaster IHS Global Insight.
For more than a decade, Europe has had a common currency, the euro, and monetary policy set by a single entity, the European Central Bank. But the 27 member nations each have retained sovereign responsibility for taxation and spending, and many have amassed huge debts. It's as if the United States did not having a national Treasury Department and instead all 50 states had their own.
"It doesn't work. A unified currency without a political union, without a fiscal union — a federal system — just isn't going to fly," said Behravesh.
But adopting a common fiscal system would require countries with millennia of history to cede their sovereignty to some higher EU bureaucracy. Proud citizens of each nation likely would object, which means the politics of democratic Europe may preclude the EU from taking the structural economic reforms it needs to survive.
"We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it," Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister, recently acknowledged.
Yet if Europeans fail to build a new economic order, an EU collapse would have severe economic consequences everywhere.
The 2008 U.S. financial crisis drove home how interconnected the global financial markets have become. When U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, a wave of panic swept global financial markets and credit froze across the planet.
Much like Americans angry about bank bailouts, Europeans aren't happy about having to bail out indebted nations such as Greece or Portugal. Most experts now think a structured default by Greece on its government bonds is inevitable.
There've been numerous debt defaults in the developing world in recent years, most notably in Latin America, but no developed nation has defaulted on bond obligations in modern times.
Latin American nations allowed their currencies to plunge in value against the dollar in order to export their way back to recovery. But Greece adopted the euro and lacks this option. It's being asked to take severe austerity measures like those imposed in Latin America, without the escape valve of currency devaluation.
A Greek default on its debts likely won't be allowed until EU leaders have built a financial firewall around their banks to ensure that Greek default doesn't lead to a contagion of financial panic in other countries.
"On one hand, you have to say that creditors have to take a hit … but when exactly do you want creditors to take a hit, and how you manage contagion? It is uncharted territory," said Nicolas Veron, a senior economist at Bruegel, a Belgium-based economic think tank.
There's another complex wrinkle.
European leaders are trying to boost a bailout fund by issuing new debt to replace old debt that's at risk of default. But by taking on additional debt, these nations, particularly France, risk a downgrade by credit-rating agencies because of their swelling debt loads. That would raise their borrowing costs, making it harder to deal with the mounting debt crisis.
One major source of strife between European leaders is how large their European Financial Stabilization Facility, the so-called bailout fund, should be. The EFSF began issuing bonds in January to essentially backstop borrowing by struggling member countries.
As market turmoil grew, this fund was expanded in March, and again in July. It now stands at 780 billion euros ($1.074 trillion), with loaning funds of 440 billion euros (about $606 billion.).
Just three months later, however, this is again viewed as not enough.
Wall Street analysts note that Italy, Spain and Belgium collectively must issue debt worth more than $1.2 trillion soon. Sharply higher borrowing costs could devastate their economies.
The White House put out a statement late Thursday saying President Barack Obama discussed the European crisis via videoconference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron, (whose country retains its own currency, the pound sterling, not the euro).
"Chancellor Merkel and President Sarkozy fully understand the urgency of the issues in the Eurozone and are working diligently to develop a comprehensive solution that addresses the challenge and which will be politically sustainable," the White House said in a statement that was as much nudge as support.
Some analysts warn that if EU leaders cannot make credible progress soon, it could ultimately lead to collapse of their 60-year experiment in integrating Europe. French leader Sarkozy sounded that theme recently, warning that failure could return Europe to its dark past, which led to two world wars in the first half of the 20th Century.
In Senate testimony Thursday, prominent economist Fred Bergsten dismissed that possibility, contending that Europeans have worked too long and hard to let that happen.
"The Europeans are not going to let the euro collapse," said Bergsten, who heads the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "We'd better understand and support their moves to fiscal union, because that is the positive outcome for them and us over time."
© 2011 McClatchy-Tribune Information Services


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• veridical •
Pronunciation: vê-ri-di-kêl • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: 1. Veracious, truthful, in perfect alignment with the facts, as a veridical excuse for being late. 2. Verisimilar, seeming to coincide with reality, seemingly real, as a veridical hallucination.
Notes: Today's Good Word strikes me as a bit rarer than its near synonym verisimilar but has the capacity to express "truthful" beyond the meaning of verisimilar. It comes with an adverb, veridically (notice the double L) and a noun, veridicality.
In Play: Should you ever want to express the sense of truthful but in a way only the well-read will comprehend, go ahead and use today's Good Word: "Nothing that the man says is veridical." Now, is that a compliment or an insult? The second meaning may be more useful, though, since it implies things only seemingly truthful: "Senator Beauregard Claghorn's veridical grasp of life back home in the South often leads him to vote against his state's real interests."
Word History: Today's Good word comes as no surprise from Latin veridicus. It is composed of the roots of verus "true" and dicere "to say". The Latin word verus went on to become vrai "true" in French. It derives from the same Proto-Indo-European root that gave Dutch waar and German wahr, both of which mean "true". If you think verus looks suspiciously like English very, your lexical instincts are indeed keen. Its ancestor in Old English meant "true, genuine". The Latin verb dicere "to say" had a noun, dictio(n), which meant "word". That is how it came to reside in Latin dictionarium "a collection of words", the origin of English dictionary. (I now offer a veridical—in the first sense—word of gratitude to Lew Jury for suggesting today's Good Word.)
P.S. - Register for the Daily Good Word E-Mail! - You can get our daily Good Word sent directly to you via e-mail in either HTML or Text format. Go to our Registration Page to sign up today!

subset: commoncrawl


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So TCAF was this weekend and it was fantastic as usual. This festival, run with the grace and precision of a Swiss Chalet chicken dinner by the Beguiling and their staff of a million cheerful, youthful volunteers. I could apologize for the blurriness of every shot from my cheap, elderly camera, but it's an aesthetic. Your limitations become your style, so they say. Just kind of squint as you look at them and we'll say my style is blurry…
Good ol' Andy Brown of Conundrum Press had a strong slew of TCAF debuts and 3 books nominated for Doug Wright Awards.
The Booth's READY! something's missing…
That's better. Cross the arms, cock the hammer, let's do this… Ol' Dave Lapp's sign is taped up. Ol' Browny's doing a great job.
Super-Dave Collier and his new full-colour comic about the late, great Canadian painter Alex Colville, done for the Art Gallery of Ontario. You wanna be a great cartoonist like Collier kids?, Follow Crumb's maxim; Never stop drawing. Reversed baseball cap is optional.
See below.
Jimmy Beaulieu gets to work right away. One of the nicest and most talented cartoonists in Quebec and I think no one draws beautiful ladies half as well as Jimmy.
Okay, so I met Mimi Pond. There's been so much buzz (#1 on the New York Times Graphic Novel bestseller list!) about her book Over Easy and it's all well-deserved. She's a fantastic cartoonist and a great writer and so cool and after talking to her for two minutes you realize you want to be her neighbour so you can shout, "Hey, buddy!" to her while taking out the trash. The fact she knew who the hell I was and liked my work made me almost faint and was the highlight of the show for me.
Tom Spurgeon: "Hey Peter from the Beguiling, Hey Mimi Pond. Oh shit! Don't turn around, it's Joe Ollmann…"
My hair felt not red enough around these 3 at the Conundrum booth. Meags Mitzgerald, of Photobooth (which sold like crazy and everyone was talking about), Shannon Gerard of the book Unspent Love and Serena Marie McCarroll of the book All Citizens. All talented, all nice. The theme of TCAF this year.
The Great Tom Spurgeon smiles benignly as I stay in crossed armed selling mode. You start every day with him, so put your arm around the spurge, Ollmann, you cold fish!
Bob Sikoryak! I love this guy! and one of the deftest, ablest, smartest and funniest cartoonists alive. I wish Bob was my neighbour too.
The lovely and talented Vincent Giard canNOT keeps his hands off me. He's another Brecht Evans. Yeah, those are my real teeth, not giant false ones. Can't believe how old I look in some of these photos, like this one below with me and Matt Forsythe:
(My grandkids, yeah, I have grandkids, think I look like the Colonel.)
Hollywood has NOT ruined these two guys. Another shot with old Buddy, the sweet and talented Matt Forsythe had a short nap on my shoulder.
My Daughter Liz came out for a drink after she watched her old man lose the Doug Wright Awards. Julia from D & Q sat next to her and they were rocking the same frocks! Cute!
These two.
Love them. Rebecca Lloyd and my sweet Pascal Girard, getting ready to spit a "chaw" of tobacco I think. Next to Pascal, Réal Godbout, who debuted (is that word? Spell-check is not offering: do you mean Dubrovnik?) his Conundrum debut in English, his stunning adaptation of Franz Kafka's Amerika. Great to meet Réal, a master clean line cartoonist (Red Ketchup) and to watch him, calmly and politely handle this exchange:
Spotted Dick shots (the name of the bar. i got nothing): Ethan Rilley, of Pope Hats one of the most talented young cartoonists I know, also one of the nicest and I love that combination. Alex Fellows, smouldering a blue steel pose at me here. Fellow's debuted Spain and Morocco with Conundrum at TCAF, full-colour, hardcover, funny and beautiful. Yeah, he's nice too. This kid's great! As the night progressed, he EMPHATICALLY expressed his love for Dan Clowes and we all agreed. My ol pal, the insanely talented Nina Bunjavic wearing some kind of Chanel supermodel outfit and old Conan Tobias was selling a GREAT giant Taddle Creek newsprint comics supplement, which you should GET! See below Collier models it.
the quintessential Selfie. (my arms are super long)
Ol' Joe, Meags F, Nick Mandaag, one of the FUNNIEST cartoonists to exist, happy to see he has a new book, Facility Integrity, with Alvin Buenaventura's Pigeon Press. and Christy Ann Conlin, author of the Doubleday novel, Heave and presenter of the great CBC radio series Fear Itself, which you should listen to.
Andy and Dakota McFadzean, another cartoonist who is as talented as he is nice. Also, this guy is one of the hardest-working people out there. and it pays off he just gets better and better. He's going places.
Post-modern. Michel Rabagliati, draws on a Lynn Johnston drawing on a fan's festival guide. Michel won the Doug Wright Award for the Conundrum English edition of Paul Joins the Scouts, a great book and well deserved. I only caught the end of the festival opening talk with The great Ms Johnston and Kate Beaton Raina Telgemeier.
It's fine that I didn't win, I'm happy for my pal Michel.
The photo below of me Hamburglarin' his award was staged by Brad McKay (Great job on the Doug Wright Awards to everyone involved!)
My old Pal, the mega-talented and equally nice, Jillian Tamaki came to say hi. Her new book with Mariko Tamaki, This One Summer looks incredible and I am stoked, as you say, to read it. I photoshopped a copy of my Doug Wright Award-losing Conundrum Press book, Science FIction in her hand. I took out my false teeth and both glass eyes in this shot.
"From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children;
wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable…
This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both…" – Charles Dickens.
This scene from a Christmas Carol was enacted in front of our booth for like 20 minutes. Kids LOVE Indie Comic shows.
"Wha hoppen?" )
TCAF 2014, DONE. Thanks Peter Chris Andrew Gina all the volunteers, the Library. Everyone from America for not mentioning that Rob Ford shit at all. So many other people I saw and I love and didn't get pictures of. If you're not in here, it's because your picture was too blurry even for this post. I love you still.
This weekend was a really a time to Appreciate comics and comics creators and comics publishers and writers about comics and people who buy read and are excited about comics and I feel really inspired and grateful for you all. No joke to end it off, just being sincere. sniff.
This weekend was a really a time to Appreciate comics and comics creators and comics publishers and writers about comics and people who buy read and are excited about comics and I feel really inspired and grateful for you all. No joke to end it off, just being sincere. sniff.
(here's my haul, with a full-size-ketchup bottle for stack-size scale.
and yeah, I visited my sweet ol' mom on the way home. we had tea and watched the news.
and yeah, I visited my sweet ol' mom on the way home. we had tea and watched the news.


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One thing that Oklahoma does do right is house a gorgeous collection of art in its state house. We went to see a new exhibit in its halls of some beautiful fiber art and were treated to this spectacle.
The derrick is symbolic these days, but the tanks in front of it aren't.
Seems that, although the state's Arts Council has this fantastic program, the building in which much of it is housed has been deemed less worthy of the same care given to the exhibitions in its many floors. I think they want a bunch of private donors to do for the rest of the building what has been done for the capitol dome.
Among the names of those donors that ring the bottom edge of the capitol dome (look carefully) is one that's gained some notoriety locally for its policies on health care:
Craft store chain Hobby Lobby announced on Friday that it will ignore the ruling of U.S. courts and refuse to provide copay-free birth control access to its employees. It will do so despite whatever costs it may incur, even if they are higher than the cost of birth control itself.
Upon learning that Obamacare required employers and insurance companies to provide birth control with no cost to employees, Hobby Lobby sued, saying that, despite the secular nature of the business, the company's owner's religious objections should be taken into consideration. When a court denied that line of reasoning, Hobby Lobby took its grievances to the Supreme Court and asked for an injunction. The highest court in the land denied that request, telling Hobby Lobby that it must allow its employees access to birth control as it seeks further litigation.
But Hobby Lobby is saying no.
The store plans to ignore the provision anyway, opting to pay a fine instead of provide birth control, including the morning after pill commonly known as Plan B, which the owner feels goes against his personal religious values:
With Wednesday's rejection of an emergency stay of that federal health care law by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Hobby Lobby and sister company Mardel could be subject to fines of up to $1.3 million a day beginning Tuesday.
"They're not going to comply with the mandate," said Kyle Duncan, general counsel of The Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the company. "They're not going to offer coverage for abortion-inducing drugs in the insurance plan."Honestly? I'd personally rather let a state house crumble than rely on such people to pony up for its renovations. The people who run that company aren't interested in the overall health and well-being of anyone except those who are just like themselves. It's not a principle I stand for at all.
Then again, I should talk, considering the state in which I live. We in Louisiana tend to be fond of saying "thank God for Mississippi" when it comes to bottom of the barrel status in matters such as education and health care.
What do you think they say here in Oklahoma?


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Researchers from China, Leicester and Oxford have discovered a remarkable fossil which sheds new light on an important group of primitive sea creatures.
The 525-million-year-old fossil belongs to a group of tentacle-bearing creatures which lived inside hard tubes. Previously only the tubes have been seen in detail but this new specimen clearly shows the soft parts of the body including tentacles for feeding.
Details of the discovery have just been announced in the journal Current Biology.
The creature belongs to a group called pterobranch hemichordates which are related to starfish and sea urchins but also show some characteristics that offer clues to the evolution of the earliest vertebrates. About 30 species of pterobranch are known to exist today although 380-490 million years ago a group of these animals called graptolites were common across the prehistoric oceans.
Pterobranches are creatures which secrete a substance that builds up into a hard tube around their soft body. Tentacles extend from the top of the tube to catch plankton. Although less than 4cm in length, the new fossil is beautifully preserved and minute details can be seen including 36 tiny tentacles along one feathery arm.
Professor David Siveter from the University of Leicester's Department of Geology commented, "Amazingly, it has exceptionally preserved soft tissues -- including arms and tentacles used for feeding -- giving unrivalled insight into the ancient biology of the group."
Colleagues from Yunnan University and the Universities of Leicester and Oxford collaborated in identifying and describing the remarkable find which was discovered in Yunnan Province, China. It has been named Galeaplumosus abilus which means 'feathered helmet from beyond the clouds', referring to both the creature's shape and its location -- 'Yunnan' literally translates as 'south of the clouds.'
The team from Yunnan (Professor Hou and Dr Ma), Leicester (Professors David Siveter and Richard Aldridge; Drs Mark Williams and Jan Zalasiewicz) and Oxford (Professor Derek Siveter) are engaged in long term study of these important fossils.
The study was funded by the Royal Society and the National Natural Foundation of China.
Story Source:
Materials provided by University of Leicester. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
Cite This Page:


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Want to lead a happier, healthier and wealthier life? Start by practicing self-control.
Most of us have heard the phrase "health, wealth and happiness." But what actually brings health, wealth and happiness? Is it success, and success alone?
My poor dad was a successful man. He had a Ph.D. and was well-respected and accomplished. But he had poor health, very little wealth and was rarely happy. He smoked two packs of cigarettes a day, eventually dying of lung cancer. He made a lot of money as a government official but never invested it. He wasn't happy with his success. In his mind, he needed to accomplish more.
So, my thought for you this month: Are you becoming healthy, wealthy and happy? Or are you sacrificing these ideals for success?
Most of us know what to do when it comes to our health and our wealth. Health is primarily about diet and exercise, and wealth is about earning and investing. But happiness is a bit more mysterious. We know to think positively, but thinking positively instead of realistically can have tragic consequences. For example, positive thinking won't prevent you from going bust if you're foolish with money, and it won't reduce your percentage of body fat.
In fact, it's often the pursuit of happiness that causes the most problems with health and wealth. Many people are obese because they eat and drink to feel happy. And others shop to feel happy, even if it means maxing out credit cards.
Many books discuss the subject of being happy and the factors that affect happiness. One factor in particular helps entrepreneurs lead happier, healthier and wealthier lives: self-control. I'm happier if I have the self-control to do the right things even if I don't want to do them. In business, sometimes that means studying more instead of working more.
Sometimes we make business decisions because they make us feel happy in the short run. But in the long run, we become less healthy and less happy. Sometimes doing the right thing might not make us happy temporarily, but we feel better later.
To me, doing the right things, even if I don't want to do them, is one of the keys to being truly happy. Today, whenever I feel unhappy, I simply ask myself, "What am I not doing?" or "What am I avoiding?" Then hopefully, I have the tenacity to do what I know I need to do. That's the only way we won't forfeit our health, wealth or happiness in our pursuit of success.


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1. A Walk Through the Book of Genesis
Related MediaIntroduction
Perhaps the most forthright and concise introduction I have ever heard about is the one which Readers Digest tells us occurred at the men's night meeting of the Philomathic Club. The speaker didn't receive the usual flower phrases of introduction. Instead, the woman simply said, "Get up, Gilbert." The speaker was none other than the woman's husband.
I probably feel the same way about introductions as "Gilbert" does. I especially dislike the introduction that goes like this: "And now it is my pleasure to introduce a man who needs no introduction."
With this message we are commencing a study of one of the great books of the Bible, the book of Genesis. It does need an introduction. Derek Kidner says of this book,
There can scarcely be another part of Scripture over which so many battles, theological, scientific, historical and literary, have been fought, or so many strong opinions cherished.1
Our attitudes and presuppostions which we bring to the book of Genesis will largely determine what we get from it. For this reason, we must devote our attention to some introductory matters.
The title "Genesis" is a transliteration of the Greek word which is the title of the book of Genesis in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. In the Hebrew text, the word Bereshith, is the first word of the text, being translated, "in the beginning."
J. Sidlow Baxter, in his excellent work, Explore the Book, sums up the difficulty of authorship by the question, "Is it Mosaic, or a mosaic?"2
That, in a nutshell, is the issue.
Traditionally, Moses has been held to be the author of Genesis over the centuries. A number of inferential evidences favor this conclusion.3 It would appear from a number of passages (e.g., Exodus 17:14; 24:4; 34:27; Leviticus 1:1; 4:1; 6:1,8,19,24; 7:22,28, etc.) that Moses wrote the other books of the Pentateuch (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). It would indeed be unusual for the first word of Exodus to be "and" unless Moses wrote it as well.
In the New Testament, our Lord seemingly attributes the Pentateuch to Moses (Matt 8:4; 19:7,8; Mark 1:44; 7:10; 10:3,4; Luke 5:14; 16:29,31; John 5:45,46; 7:22,23). Other New Testament writers follow this same approach (Acts 3:22, 13:39; Rom 10:5,19; I Cor 9:9; II Cor 3:15). It is therefore hard not to conclude that Moses wrote all the Pentateuch, in spite of no one air-tight statement to this effect.
Critics have not been content with this conclusion, however. Beginning with J. Astruc (1753),4 "scholars" have attributed this book to the work of an unknown redactor who skillfully compiled the writings of four or more editors. Generally the four primary sources are referred to as J, E, D, and P. J is the "Yahwist"; E, the "Elohist"; D is the work of the Deuteronomist; and P, the priestly document.
Several lines of evidence are given to support the Graf-Wellhausen or Documentary hypothesis. First would be the different names which are employed for God.5 For those who hold to the Documentary hypothesis, the change from Elohim to Yahweh signals a change of author. One major flaw in this approach is that within "E" passages the word Yahweh is also employed (e.g. Genesis 22:11, 14; 28:17-22) and vice-versa.
Secondly, we are pointed to different expressions referring to some act, such as that of making a covenant. "Cut a covenant," "give a covenant," and "establish a covenant"6 are variously employed, by the different authors of the Pentateuch. This leaves the author with no opportunity for stylistic change or for a change in the nuance of a word. One would hate to write under such restrictions today.
Thirdly, we are told that the Pentateuch contains "doublets," that is duplicate accounts of the same event.7 One such instance would be the two creation accounts in Genesis 1 and 2. Worse yet are supposed "doublets" where there is any semblance of similarity between two accounts, such as Hagar's two departures from home (Genesis 16, 21).
While multiple authorship8 or the use of existing documents9 should pose no great difficulty to the doctrine of the Bible's inspiration and inerrancy, the Documentary hypothesis stands condemned on two counts. First, it is based upon the very thin ice of conjecture of scholars who are supposedly better informed than the author(s) of old; and secondly, it has placed most of the emphasis upon the isolation of fragments and their authors, rather than upon the interpretation of the text itself.10 They are more concerned about an alleged Redactor, than the Redeemer.
Thus, we must agree with the conclusion of Sir Charles Marston:
So J., E. and P., the supposed authors of the Pentateuch, are becoming mere phantom scribes and fetishes of the imagination. They have made Old Testament study unattractive, they have wasted our time, and they have warped and confused our judgments on outside evidence. It has been assumed that they possessed some sort of prescriptive right and authority superior to the Sacred Text. In the clearer light that Science is casting, these shadows that have dimmed our days of study and devotion are silently stealing away.11
The Outline of the Book of Genesis
Nearly every student of the book of Genesis agrees that it falls logically into two sections: chapters 1-11 and 12-50. The first eleven chapters focus upon the ever widening ruin of man, fallen from his created perfection and coming under the judgment of the Creator. Chapters 12-50 describe God's ever narrowing program of man's redemption.
The first division of the book, chapters 1-11, can be summarized by four major events: the creation (chapters 1-2), the fall (chapters 3-5), the flood (chapters 6-9), and the confusion of languages of the tower of Babel. The last division of Genesis, chapters 12-50, can be remembered by its four main characters: Abraham (12:1-25:18), Isaac (25:19-26:35), Jacob (27-36), and Joseph (37-50).
While there are more complicated schemes for the book, this simple outline should assist you to think in terms of the book as a whole. Every incident, every chapter should be understood as it contributes to the argument of the book.
The Importance of the Book of Genesis
A surveyor must always begin from a point of reference. So, too, history must start at some definite place of beginnings. The Bible is, through and through, a historical revelation. It is the account of God's activity in history. As such, it must have a beginning. The book of Genesis gives us our historical point of reference, from which all subsequent revelation proceeds.
In this book we find the "roots" of the inhabited world and the universe, of man and nations, of sin and redemption. Also, we find the foundation of our theology. Fritsch, in The Layman's Bible Commentary has referred to Genesis as "the starting point of all theology."12 J. Sidlow Baxter has written,
The other writings of the Bible are inseparably bound up with it inasmuch as it gives us the origin and initial explanation of all that follows. The major themes of Scripture may be compared to great rivers, ever deepening and broadening as they flow; and it is true to say that all these rivers have their rise in the watershed of Genesis. Or, to use on equally appropriate figure, as the massive trunk and wide-spreading branches of the oak are in the acorn, so, by implication and anticipation, all Scripture is in Genesis. Here we have in germ all that is later developed. It has been truly said that "the roots of all subsequent revelation are planted deep in Genesis, and whoever would truly comprehend that revelation must begin here."13
Genesis is particularly crucial in the light of the doctrine of progressive revelation. This doctrine attempts to define the phenomena which occurs in the process of divine revelation. Essentially initial revelation is general while subsequent revelation tends to be more particular and specific.
Let me try to illustrate progressive revelation by an examination of the doctrine of redemption. The first promise of redemption is definite but largely undefined in Genesis 3:15: "He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."
Later in Genesis we learn that the world will be blessed through Abraham (12:3). The line through which Messiah would come was through Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau. Finally in Genesis we see that Israel's coming ruler will be of the tribe of Judah: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples" (Genesis 49:10).
Later on we learn that Messiah will be the offspring of David (II Samuel 7:14-16), to be born in the city of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Literally hundreds of prophecies tell in greater detail, the coming of the Messiah.
The striking realization is that Genesis (and the Pentateuch) contain the broad outlines of virtually every major area of theology. For those of us who tend to lose our sense of perspective between fundamental and incidental truths, a study of Genesis will tend to remind us of those areas of theology which are most fundamental and foundational.
Genesis also sheds light on contemporary events. The bitter struggle which is currently going on in the Middle East is explained in the book of Genesis. Abram, who wanted to help God along with His plan, took matters into his own hands. The result was the birth of a child to Sarai's handmaid, Hagar. The Arabs of today claim to have descended from Ishmael.14
The Interpretation of Genesis
Francis Schaeffer mentions four different interpretations of the Genesis account of creation:
For some this material is simply a Jewish myth, having no more historical validity for modern man than the Epic of Gilgamesh or the stories of Zeus. For others it forms a pre-scientific vision that no one who respects the results of scholarship can accept. Still others find the story symbolic but no more. Some accept the early chapters of Genesis as revelation in regard to an upper-story, religious truth, but allow any sense of truth in regard to history and the cosmos (science) to be lost.15
How one approaches the book of Genesis largely determines what they will get from its study. I would like to mention three methods of interpretation which we must avoid.
Neo-orthodox theologians are willing to grant that the Bible contains truth, but will not go so far as to accept it as the truth. They suspect that throughout its transmission down through the ages it has become something less than inspired and inerrant. These untrue accretions which have become mixed with biblical truth must be exposed and expunged. This process is referred to as demythologizing Scripture. The great difficulty is that man determines what is truth and what is fiction. Man is no longer under the authority of the Word, but is the authority over the Word.
A second method of interpretation is called the allegorical approach. This method is barely one step removed from demythologizing. The biblical account is not nearly so important as the "spiritual" message conveyed by the passage. The difficulty is that the "spiritual message" seems to differ with every individual, and it is not tied in with the historical-grammatical interpretation of the text. In popular group studies this usually fits under the heading of "what this verse means to me." The interpretation of a text should be the same for a housewife or a theologian, a child or a mature Christian. The application may differ, but the interpretation, never!
Closely related to the allegorical method of interpretation is the typological approach. No one questions that the Bible contains types. Some of these types are clearly designated as such in the New Testament (Rom 5:14; Col 2:17; Heb 8:5, etc.). Other types can hardly be questioned, while not specifically labeled as such. For example, Joseph seems to be a clear type of Christ.
Oftentimes in my experience people have "found" types where they seem not to exist. While the meaning of such interpretation may be one that conforms to Scripture (or may be taught elsewhere), there is no way to prove or disprove the type. The more spiritual one is the more types he or she seems to find. And who can question them? But in this search for types, the plain and simple interpretation is obscured or overlooked. Let us exercise great caution here.
I would like to suggest that we approach the book of Genesis as the book presents itself to us. I believe the first verse makes clear the way we must approach the entire work.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
Beside this verse I have written in the margin of my Bible, "This account either explains it all or it does not explain it at all."
No, don't tell me that I am seeing too much here. Some books begin, "… Once upon a time … "
When we find such an introduction we immediately understand that we are reading a fairy tale. So also the conclusion, "… and they lived happily ever after."
Genesis 1:1 is totally different. The mood is authoritative and declarative.
The claim implied by this verse is much like that of our Lord when He presented Himself to men. No one can logically tip their hat to Jesus Christ as a "good man," "a wonderful example," or a "great teacher," He was either Who He claimed to be (the Messiah, the Son of God), or He was a fake and a fraud. There is no middle ground, no riding the fence with Jesus. Jesus does not deserve mere courtesy. He demands a crown or a cross.
So it is with this verse. We dare not call it good literature. It claims authority and veracity. From this verse one should either read on, expecting a revelation from God in this book, or he should set it aside as mere religious rhetoric.
Let us remember that no one witnessed the creation:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth! Tell Me, if you have understanding, who set its measurements, since you know? Or who stretched the line on it? Or where were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7).
There are only two viable options as to where Genesis 1:1 (and the rest of the book) came from. Either it was a product of a human author's imagination, or it is divinely revealed truth. If it is the former, we should value it only as a work of antiquity, on the same level as other ancient cosmogonies. If the latter, we must come on bended knee, willing to hear and obey it as an authoritative word from God.
This view of Genesis as divine revelation, the historical account of our origins, is that of the remainder of the Scriptures.
To Him who made the heavens with skill, for His lovingkindness is everlasting; to Him who spread out the earth above the waters, for His lovingkindness is everlasting; to Him who made the great Lights, for His lovingkindness is everlasting; the sun to rule by day, for His lovingkindness is everlasting, the moon and stars to rule by night, for His lovingkindness is everlasting (Psalm 136:5-9).
The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the Lord who does all these. It is I who made the earth, and created man upon it. I stretched out the heavens with My hands, and I ordained all their host. For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am the Lord, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:7,12,18).
For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression (I Tim 2:13-14; cf. also Matt 19:4-6; Rom 5:14f).
Our Approach to the Book of Genesis
We will therefore come to the book of Genesis as divine revelation. We shall endeavor to interpret the book literally, in the light of the culture and customs of its day. We will attempt to find eternal principles which are as true today as they were those many years ago. We will then suggest how these eternal truths relate to us in our own age.
This series will not be (Lord willing) a message marathon, persisting forever and ever, age without end. My purpose is to deal with Genesis on a chapter by chapter basis, keeping an understanding of the argument of the book as a primary goal.
I will not deal extensively with the theory of evolution in the first two chapters. This is for several reasons. First, I do not think this issue is within the primary thrust of the book. I would have to depart from the text and to speculate much to deal effectively with evolution. Secondly, I have little interest and little expertise in this scientific area.
(I refuse to attack scientists out of my own ignorance, and I do not wish to be "drawn offsides" so to speak by theories which are critical of divine revelation.) Thirdly, I wish to stay within the Bible's emphasis and application when dealing with creation. For thousands of years evolution was not an issue. What did people learn from Genesis 1 and 2 all those years? Fourth, most Americans are either tired of hearing about evolution or don't believe in it anyway: "Half of the adults in the U.S. believe God created Adam and Eve to start the human race."16
The issue of creationism is ultimately not one over facts, but of faith:
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened (Romans 1:20-21).
By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible (Hebrews 11:3).
I must say that I am eager to begin this study of Genesis. I would ask you to study the book carefully and prayerfully. Most of all, I would hope that in its study we would come to know God as did men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.
1 Derek Kidner, Genesis (Chicago: Inter-Varsity Press, 1967), p. 9.
2 J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1960), I, p. 22.
3 For a more detailed analysis of the authorship of Genesis, cf. Kidner, pp. 15-26; Baxter, I, p. 22; H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1942), I, pp. 5-9.
5 Cf. Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Chicago: Moody Press, 1964), pp. 110-115.
7 Cf. Kidner, pp. 21-22; Archer, pp. 117ff.
8 As we have in Psalms or Proverbs, for example.
9 "No lack of such sources, oral and written, however, need be supposed for an author of the period indicated in section a. (pp. 15f.), since Abram had migrated from a country that was rich in traditions and genealogies, and Joseph (like Moses after him) had lived many years in the intellectual climate of the Egyptian court on the one hand (with access to, e.g., the detailed ethnography reflected in Genesis 10) and of the patriarchal society on the other, with ample opportunities of preserving these stores of information." Kidner, pp. 22-23.
10 "With the study of Genesis on its own terms, that is, as a living whole, not a body to be dissected, the impression becomes inescapable that its characters are people of flesh and blood, its events actual, and the book itself a unity. If this is right, the mechanics of composition are matters of small importance, since the parts of this whole are not competing for credence as rival traditions, and the author of the book does not draw attention, as do the writers of Kings and Chronicles, to the sources of his information." Ibid, p. 22.
11 Quoted by J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book, I, p. 22.
12 As quoted by H. C. Leuphold, "Genesis," The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1975, 1976), II, p. 679. This excellent article has a helpful summary of the book, chapter by chapter.
13 Baxter, Explore the Book, I, p. 23.
15 Francis A. Schaeffer, Genesis in Time and Space (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1972), p. 9.
16 "We Poll the Pollster," Christianity Today, December 21, 1979, p. 14.


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Extinct in Israel, Sand Cat Kittens Emerge at Zoo Tel Aviv
August 21, 2012
In early August, keepers at Zoo Tel Aviv Ramat-Gan were thrilled to discover that mother cat, Rotem, had given birth to four wriggly little kittens. Initially there was concern that Rotem would be unable to care for so many kittens, but she has proven to be a capable mother for her curious youngsters. Now at three weeks old, the kittens have just begun to emerge from the den to the delight of visitors.
Specially adapted for desert life, Sand Cats can thrive in some of the world's driest areas beyond, the range of any other feline. Much like the Fennec Fox, Sand Cats sport big furry pads between their toes to dance along the hot sand and oversized ears, which act like radiators to disperse heat.
Despite these unique feline characteristics, the Sand Cat has not been able to outrun the triple threats of habitat destruction, inadvertent trapping by farmers, and predation and disease from domestic animals. Today they are extinct in the wild in Israel and on the decline throughout their native range of deserts in Asia and North Africa.


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I'm writing this Wednesday August 7th, no idea when it will get posted. [Answer: later that day, at an Atlanta Bread Company.] Surprising myself, I haven't even been that interested in finding wifi and checking my mail up to this point. I expected I'd be jonesing at the lack of internet but it just hasn't mattered to me.
Our cabin is truly out in the nowheresville woods, which is kind of what we were shooting for. Just up the hill is a 3 acre pasture that we can run around in with the dog. The view on two sides is thick forest, on one is the main house and the last is an apple orchard. I'm not above picking an illicit apple or two, but they aren't ripe yet.
Monday we got our bearings and drove around Hendersonville. We went up to Jump Off Rock, which we found interesting and a pretty view but probably not worth the pain of driving up to it. It was close to sunset when we got there, and there was one dude there who gave us as close to a serial killer vibe as we've ever gotten from anyone so our time there was limited.
On Tuesday we packed up and went to Dupont State Forest. We first went to Hooker Falls, which has a swimming area at the bottom of the falls. Best of all you can take your dog! We played around there for a while, then had lunch and hiked up to the other falls across the highway, Triple Falls and High Falls. We of course did all this on a day that was setting a record high temperature for the area, but under the canopy of trees it wasn't so bad. After going up and down the trails, we were ready for some more swimming in the chilly water of Hooker Falls so we went back there. On the drive back to town we stopped at the cemetery and I snapped a picture of "Wolfe's Angel" – the angel statue created by Thomas Wolfe's father and the titular object of Look Homeward, Angel.
And that was that. The first full day of vacation was a success, and everyone was so tuckered that we ate and went to bed early. Just exactly the sort of thing we were hoping for.


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Inside Moss Wright Park at 705 Caldwell Drive, Goodlettsville, Tn 37072.
Show All Answers
Goodlettsville Visitor's Center, Goodlettsville City Hall, area hotels, local restaurants, antique shops and boutiques.
Goodlettsville Visitor's Center
Yes, there's only one!
Monday-Friday, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
During the Farmer's Market season, early May thru early October, the Visitor's Center is open on Thursdays until 7:00pm.
Family friendly events including live outdoor music, festivals, organized runs, car shows and movies.


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Target Silicon Valley: Why A View to a Kill actually made sense
Bond villain Zorin's plan wouldn't work today, though
Valley guys and earthquakes
If anything, prospective partners might have thought Zorin's proposition was based on a ludicrously low entry fee, with too much of his share being backend loaded. But they'd have kept this view to themselves - either to maximise their own profit, or to avoid being asked to "step outside" the airship where the meeting was held.
But the industry - less than two decades old depending how you date it - was changing, in ways that could undermine the whole logic of the plot even before filming began.
For a start, Zorin's figures are a little out – he tells his conspirators the Valley is home to "250 plants" and 80 per cent of world microchip manufacturing. These figures put him at odds with the SIA.
A drift of chip manufacturing was already underway out of the Santa Clara Valley by the end of the 1970s. The innovators in computing were also innovators in rationalising production and exploiting near-shore and off-shore production, according to David Laws, a curator with the Semiconductor Special Interest Group at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley. Laws is a 40-year veteran of the Valley, having worked at firms from Fairchild to AMD.
This wasn't just theory; land was already expensive there, while the populace along Route 101 was already acutely aware of the potential environmental impact of the esoteric chemicals being used in chip production, says Laws.
A Zorin plan would miss chip plants like GlobalFoundries' Fab 8, outside Silicon Valley
So by the time Zorin was fleshing out his plan, large-scale fabrication had already moved out of the Valley - AT&T and IBM had always had their own plants elsewhere. Meanwhile, says Laws, packaging and testing had already moved overseas, to the Philippines, Malaysia and Korea. The fabs still in the Valley were focused on prototyping and initial manufacturing.
Nonetheless, Laws says that taking out the Valley "would have been pretty devastating" - but Zorin would have been obliterating brain power, not manufacturing muscle.
"In Silicon Valley you had such breadth of experience, in so many specialisms," says Laws, whether microprocessors, analogue or mixed signal.
Even with the manufacturing elsewhere, there was enough of a critical mass of brains in the Valley that it would have been hard for the rest of the industry to pick up the slack, at least in terms of future development.
So Zorin probably got it right with his target, although not quite for the reasons he expected, and for a limited time only.
As for his methodology, disguising one's assault as a natural disaster is a great way of covering your tracks. But just how easy is to stage a major earthquake?
The understated response from Roger Musson of The British Geological Survey, Fortean Times contributor and author of the forthcoming book The million death earthquake, is: "It's not very plausible."
The concept of a geological lock is standard seismological theory, Musson explains. But Zorin's method of unpicking it is fanciful.
The San Andreas Fault lies between 5km and 15km below the Valley's surface, he explains, meaning the explosion in the mine Zorin set off to cause the quake catastrophe would have had little practical effect, not least because the energy from explosions tends to be directed upwards.
Likewise, the explosions on the lakes would have resulted in "some spectacular fountains, but not much else."
However, the producers did not completely ignore earthquake science. Indeed they consulted the BGS on what a seismological monitoring lab should look like. This at least they got right for the few seconds it appears on screen.
"It looks like ours," observes Musson.
And if the word of scientists is not good enough for you, bear in mind that A View to a Kill is one of the few Bond plots which has been tested in real life. Just over four years after A View to a Kill premiered in San Francisco, the Bay Area was hit with a major Earthquake - the 6.9 point Loma Prietta. While this was enough to collapse freeways and close off whole neighbourhoods of San Francisco, the effect on the semiconductor infrastructure was negligible.
"I don't think it was a major hiccup," says Laws. More of a problem was the US's appetite for orchids and other Asian perishables, which often bumped silicon components off trans-Pacific flights.
"An airplane coming in late was more of a problem [than earthquakes]," he says, reflecting the industry's increasing reliance on air freight to move parts from fab to testing and assembly plant and back again.
In fact, one plane did go down in the Bay in the '70s, he says, and while all hands survived, a whole over-stretched industry suddenly discovered they might have had parts on it:
"Everyone blamed that disaster for delays to customers."


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Our office does not track whether or not you have an escrow account. You are legally the taxpayer and we work directly with you. You have a contractual relationship with your mortgage company that does not involve our office. Most mortgage companies request that information electronically. You may wish to verify with your mortgage company as to whether or not they want you to forward your tax statement to them.
It is always your responsibility to ensure taxes are paid in a timely manner. You can check online to see your paid taxes and print receipts.
Property taxes become delinquent May 1st for first-half and November 1st for second-half.
Real property foreclosure begins May 1st for real property taxes/assessments delinquent 3 or more years. Collection fees will be assessed during this process.
Personal property distraint begins May 1st for first-half and November 1st for second-half. Collection fees are assessed starting on those dates.
There is a secure drop box located outside the entrance of the Courthouse and a secure drive-up drop box located across from the Courthouse on the north side of Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, both available 24/7. There is also a drop box located along the West Wall outside of our office.
You may do this via our website at Name and Address Change Request, on the back of your payment coupon or by sending us a signed note requesting the change. Be sure to include your parcel number(s) on all correspondence with our office.
To make a change to the mailing address for the owner record, you will need to contact the Yakima County Assessor's Office at 509-574-1100.
Note: Changing the taxpayer name or address is solely for the purpose of receiving a property tax and assessment statement. It does not change the ownership or vesting. To change the ownership or vesting on a parcel, please seek legal guidance.
Our office may not have your most current mailing address. However, you do not need the property tax statement to make your payment. You can find your tax and assessment information under the heading of Pay Property Taxes. Just include your parcel number with your payment to avoid any complications in having your payment applied.
Please remember, even if you have not received your property tax statement, it is your responsibility to pay the taxes in a timely manner to avoid delinquent charges.
This information is located under the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 458-18-215 and may be accessed in the Paying Property Taxes Under Protest (PDF). You must follow the directions provided explicitly in order to maintain your right to an appeal.


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Facebook, Amazon, Google, IBM and Microsoft come together to create the Partnership on AI
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / Bryce Durbin
The world's largest technology companies hold the keys to some of the largest databases on our planet. Much like goods and coins before it, data is becoming an important currency for the modern world. The data's value is rooted in its applications to artificial intelligence. Whichever company owns the data, effectively owns AI. Right now that means companies like Facebook, Amazon, Alphabet, IBM and Microsoft have a ton of power.
In an act of self-governance, these five companies came together today to announce the launch of the new Partnership on AI. The group is tasked with conducting research and promoting best practices. Practically, this means that the group of tech companies will come together frequently to discuss advancements in artificial intelligence. The group also opens up a formal structure for communication across company lines. It's important to remember that on a day-to-day basis, these teams are in constant competition with each other to develop the best products and services powered by machine intelligence.
Financial support will be coming from the initial tech companies that are members of the group, but in the future, membership and involvement is expected to increase. User activists, nonprofits, ethicists and other stakeholders will be joining the discussion in the coming weeks.
"We want to involve people impacted by AI as well," said Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder and head of applied AI at DeepMind, a subsidiary of Alphabet.
The organizational structure has been designed to allow non-corporate groups to have equal leadership side-by-side with large tech companies.
As of today's launch, companies like Apple, Twitter, Intel and Baidu are missing from the group. Though Apple is said to be enthusiastic about the project, their absence is still notable because the company has fallen behind in artificial intelligence when compared to its rivals — many of which are part of this new group.
The new organization really seems to be about promoting change by example. Rather than preach to the tech world, it wants to use a standard open license to publish research on topics, including ethics, inclusivity and privacy.
"The power of AI is in the enterprise sector," said Francesca Rossi, an AI ethics researcher at IBM Research. "For society at-large to get the benefits of AI, we first have to trust it."
The focus of the organization is a refreshing juxtaposition to more pop-culture discussions about the risks of artificial intelligence. While the jury is still out as to whether a singularity event could threaten mankind, we already face a long list of challenges in today's world of AI. While computers are not at a point yet where they can take all of our jobs, they can amplify the negative tendencies that humans already possess. A biased world can result in biased data sets and, in turn, bias artificial intelligence frameworks.
To combat this, companies like Microsoft have already formed AI ethics advisory boards. But, rather than override existing efforts, the new group augments projects already undertaken at individual companies and provides a forum for sharing valuable advice. The group plans to make discussions and minutes from meetings publicly available.
Additional reporting done by Josh Constine.


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This week DeAnn Smallwood entertains us with an excerpt from her Sweet, Historical Romance Unconquerable Callie.
The Blurb:
Callie Collins, a proud woman in the late 1800's is a liar and a darned good one, a master of the dubious art. She is also a dreamer. Her greatest hope is to reach a new life in South Pass City Wyoming, where she can open a bakery and live an independent life. To be successful, she will need her greatest gifts of deception to date. As a woman alone, she has to prove to Seth McCalister, the wagon master, that she has the wherewithal (a wagon and a set of oxen), the stamina to survive months of drought, dust, hardships and even risk of death, and a mythical fiancé who waits at the end of the line. McCallister is uneasy, but also mystified by the audacity and determination of the young woman. He allows her to join the train west. What he doesn't realize is there is no fiancé. To make matters worse, Callie is in love with Seth McCallister, too. For the first time, the lies that have brought her so far in life threaten to keep her from her one, true love. McCallister is a man of strong character and Callie feels certain that once he realizes her deception, he'll turn away, ashamed of his love and trust in her.
The Excerpt:
She left the empty dining room and, with shoulders squared, set out for the general store. The town hummed like a beehive of angry bees, streets crowded with wagons of every description, vendors set up on any available space offering any and all items needed for the trip west. If you wanted it, Independence had it. You just had to find the right stall or store.
Callie strolled past each vendor seeing-without-seeing the wares. There would be time to stock her wagon once she had one. She reached for the door to the general store only to have it shoved open from the inside, hitting her with such force she went tumbling backward down the steps. She landed on her rump in the dusty street, hat askew, petticoats up over the top of her fashionable buttoned shoes.
Before she realized what had happened, she was pulled up into strong arms, then flopped over a masculine forearm while a large hand administered rib shaking blows to her back.
"Breathe." The order came harsh in her ear while he smacked her back again.
"I said breathe, lady." The stranger shook her.
"Stop," Callie gasped weakly, head wobbling from side-to-side. "Stop pounding my back and shaking me." She forced the words out between squeaky intakes of air.
As sudden as the earthquake had started, it stopped. She remained in a tight vise against the man's chest.
Then he spoke again, his voice full of anger. "What in the hell, begging your pardon, Ma'am, but just what were you doing on the other side of that door?"
Callie pulled her head back and attempted to focus. How dare he! He'd just pushed her down two steps, into a dirty street, showed her petticoats to passersby, knocked the breath out of her, pummeled her back to black and blue, and then berated her for standing in front of a door leading to a place of business.
"You . . ."
"Hush," he barked. "I hollered to 'Stand clear' before throwing open the door. Are you deaf?"
No, she hadn't heard. She'd been thinking, worrying, about that dratted wagon. Anyway, it certainly wasn't her fault and as soon as she freed herself of a pair of strong arms and a man smelling of witch hazel and the clean scent of wood smoke, she'd tell him so.
"We were rolling out kegs and barrels. You could have been hurt. I've seen some dumb stunts, lady, but standing there with your head in the clouds when someone is trying to prevent an accident, is just, well, it's just crazy." With that, he released her and set her firmly on her feet. He brushed off the dust clinging to her dress.
Callie eyed him apprehensively and backed away only to feel the heel of her shoe teeter over the edge of the step. She flailed her arms and would have tumbled back down the steps again if, quick as a snake, he hadn't reached out and grabbed her.
"Ma'am,' he growled, "you'd better get home to the safety of your kitchen and not venture out without your husband on your arm. You're a menace." And before Callie could put her tongue into action, he picked her up like a doll and firmly set her to one side while he stormed down the steps. He was part of the crowd before she could speak all the unladylike words that were on her lips.
Of all the egotistical males, she had just met the king. How dare he admonish her to home and hearth? How dare he knock her down, brush her off, and scold her in front of everyone? Men. If she ever needed proof she'd done the right thing in seeking independence, there it was. A tall, strong, pigheaded stranger who just happened to have the deepest pair of blue eyes she'd ever seen.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Unconquerable-Callie-A-Western-Romance-ebook/dp/B00BLWBDF2/
Soul Mate Publishing: http://www.soulmatepublishing.com/Unconquerable-Callie/Website: http://www.deannsmallwood.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/DeAnn-Smallwood-also-writing-as-DM-Woods/366637150050917?fref=ts
Other books by DeAnn:
Death Crosses the Finish Line
Sapphire Blue
Montana Star
Wyoming Heather
Tears in the Wind


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Bishop Shannon Johnston of Virginia gives us all a lesson in the fallacy known to the ancients as petitio principii:
May the members of a congregation leave a hierarchical denomination and take the church property with them?You are begging the question, Bishop Johnston -- you have assumed the answer you want in the way you have chosen to phrase the query. In plainer words, you have asked: "May the members of a congregation leave a denomination which owns all that congregation's property and take the denomination's property with them?" By resorting to a rhetorical fallacy from the outset, you are off to a very bad start.
At great cost in time, effort, money and friendship — on both sides — the answer for the Episcopal Church in Virginia is no.Well -- no, Bishop Johnston, not exactly. The answer given by one circuit court in Virginia is "no"; but the Circuit Court of Fairfax County does not speak for all the courts of Virginia. Only the Virginia Supreme Court may do that, and it has not ruled on your "question." But I agree with you about the "great cost" involved to get to such a non-definitive point. And that may cause concern for some of your other contentions, below.
Many have followed this case and shared their opinions, both supporting and criticizing our effort to return Episcopal properties to the mission of the Episcopal Church. It's tempting for this dispute to be about property, or politics, or just plain money. But the essence of the dispute is about theology itself.You are not making sense, Bishop Johnston. You just touted one response of a secular civil court in Virginia to your initial question as definitive -- yet now you say that the actual question is a theological one? Courts don't decide theological questions, Bishop Johnston -- nor do litigants spend upwards of five million dollars to obtain an answer to a question that courts cannot decide.
It sounds to me very much as though the dispute was about "property, or politics, or just plain money," Bishop Johnston. Why not be honest about it? Your Diocese needs the congregations' properties in order to be able to pay off the amounts you borrowed to finance your confiscations of those properties through the courts. That may not have been what the dispute was about at the outset, Bishop Johnston (when you were not there), but it is what the dispute has become now.
Many denominations have a governance ("polity") that allows for congregational self-determination. For hierarchical bodies, such as the Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, United Methodist and Presbyterian churches, it is quite a different matter. In these churches, local congregations represent and witness to the larger structure.It sounds as though you are assuming facts "not in evidence," Bishop Johnston. Your phrase "represent and witness to the larger structure" stands the initial principles of your distinguished predecessor in the House of Bishops, the Rt. Rev. William White, on their head. What he wrote in 1782 was that the larger structure would be subservient to and representative of the local congregations and dioceses, not the other way around:
The continental representative body may consist of a convenient number from each of the larger districts, formed equally of clergy and laity, and among the clergy, formed equally of presiding ministers and others; to meet statedly once in three years. The use of this and the preceding representative bodies is to make such regulations, and receive appeals in such matters only, as shall be judged necessary for their continuing one religious communion.Do you see Bishop White's use -- twice -- of that word "representative", Bishop Johnston? The larger Church was to be representative of the individual congregations, and to function only as necessary to maintain "one religious communion." Indeed, since it was to meet only once every three years, the "larger structure" was not even a continuing presence in the life of that communion.
But let's return to your history lesson, Bishop Johnston:
Our polity has been established and codified for almost 2,000 years and is the result of a theological view of what the Church is and how it should be governed.
In our tradition, it is the diocese, not the congregation, that is the basic unit of the Church. The bishop is its chief pastor.I trust you are aware, Bishop Johnston, that it is only in terms of the polity of a worldwide communion of churches that you can describe a diocese as a "basic unit." When you speak of an individual church in that communion, however, you need to talk about "mission," and to remember that a diocese has to have parishes to fulfill that mission. A diocese can never amount to anything without parishes to do the work of mission on the ground; it might as well be a monastery. And please note your own words: you are supposed to be "the chief pastor" of the diocese -- not its chief litigator.
The Church's clergy vow to serve under the authority of their bishop. The elected leaders of congregations do the same.In my Episcopal church here in California, the vestry members are sworn into their office by promising to perform their duties "well and faithfully." They make no vow of submission to the Bishop, as the clergy do upon ordination (but only in the sense of obeying their Bishop "in all things lawful and honest"). I am not sure whether it is different in Virginia -- perhaps a commenter can enlighten us.
The congregations that separated from the Episcopal Church always existed within the authority of this tradition and polity. Without question, the members of these congregations were free to leave this authority, but according to the ancient polity to which they themselves subscribed, the diocese retains its right, and its generational responsibility, of oversight for the ministry of the local church."Oversight for the ministry of the local church" becomes rather moot once that local church votes to disaffiliate, does it not, Bishop Johnston? How can you oversee something which is no longer there -- which no longer invites you to visit, or to confirm their members?
We have a defining commitment to this ancient theology and tradition.I think a Great Rhetorical Leap must be coming. I am not certain where this is going, but that sentence simply begs all sorts of questions: (a) "defining commitment" - what commitment, and who defined it? (b) "ancient theology and tradition" - they are by no means the same. In short, one can erect any number of conclusions on top of that sentence.
We have a fiduciary duty to ensure that properties given to the Episcopal Church are used for its mission.Now you have jumped again from theology to law, Bishop Johnston. Moreover, there you go again, begging the question! Who said that they were "properties given to the Episcopal Church"?? And if they were, why wasn't that Church's name on any of the deeds?
And, oh, the irony in those words -- "used for its mission"! Can you not see their two meanings -- depending on how one reads the "mission" of the Episcopal Church (USA) to be?
If its "mission" is to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are ignorant of the Good News, then that is one thing. But in that case, it is very difficult, as already noted, to bring the Good News to those whom you have already driven out, and who hence want no longer to hear from you. Hanging on to the properties does not accomplish that mission, if there is no one to worship in them. Moreover, please note, as stated above, that Dioceses cannot do "mission" on their own. They need congregations for that.
But if the "mission" of ECUSA is defined by the over sixty lawsuits it has brought against former congregations, former bishops and their diocesan structures, then do you see the irony in your claiming to have a duty to "ensure" that those properties "are used for its mission"? Do you see that irony, Bishop Johnston? I thought not.
That duty, however, is theologically based; we are called to be good stewards of property given to us by our forebears. Stewardship is a theological concept: we give thanks for the gifts God has given to us all. Stewards are bound to preserve gifts for future generations. The leaders of the departed congregations have asserted that this case was never about buildings or money but about larger principles. On that we agree.Back to theology again, Bishop Johnston -- and my head is starting to spin. Biblical "stewardship" is a far broader concept than the legal one of "fiduciary duty." A fiduciary may indeed have to bring a lawsuit if the property placed in his care for others is stolen. But a Christian steward? Dealing with property that is not legally his, but ultimately God's? And watching that property remain in the service of God as it always has, and then deciding that he has a better use for it? Such as selling it to repay debts he has unwisely incurred? Doesn't sound very "stewardly" to me, Bishop Johnston.
The matter of biblical interpretation is at the heart of the issues, and there are real differences. Differences over biblical interpretation, not authority, remain unsettled. Even so, the common, ancient tradition as to authority, polity and property stands with the diocese and its bishop.Oh dear, oh dear. Look at what you just wrote, Bishop Johnston. "Differences over interpretation" remain "unsettled", but not "differences over authority"? Are you sure there are no differences over authority, Bishop Johnston? Then why did all of your larger congregations decide that they no longer wanted you to have any authority over them?
And in your next sentence, you just jumped the shark, Bishop Johnston. For you slipped that word "property" in, didn't you, hoping that no one would notice? So now "the common, ancient tradition as to . . . property stands with the diocese and its bishop? Is that the way the Church fathers understood things?
While you look for some citations from the Church fathers to support your outlandish claim, Bishop Johnston, I have just one question for you. If the bishop's control over parish property was always such a fixed matter of authority and polity, then why did the Episcopal Church have to pass the Dennis Canon in 1979?
Still looking for that citation, Bishop Johnston? And no answer to my question? Well, let's continue:
To be absolutely clear, as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, I do not want merely an outcome from the court; I seek a witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray blessings upon those congregations who have made the painful decision to leave the Episcopal Church. They have prayed for the diocese and for me. Despite our dispute, we are being as gracious as we possibly can by providing smooth transitions for those congregations. And we must find ways to minister where we have much in common, such as in South Sudan. We both work to help those who face the perils of daily life there, most notably from the infamous Lord's Resistance Army. There is no reason — and no excuse — why we cannot do so together. Both sides must seek ministries in which we can, in unity, serve a society and a world in desperate need. In doing so, we will find one another again as brothers and sisters in the one God and thus be better disciples of the Lord we all follow.An absolutely fine and noble Christian sentiment, Bishop Johnston. You will find no Christian who disagrees with you in those aims. It is just too bad that their expression came after you had spent so much time rigging the rhetorical playing field.
What's next? We begin anew, as we hope those who left the Episcopal Church will, too. Dayspring is the biblical term for a new dawn that speaks of God breaking through to do new things. Our Dayspring initiative is renewing and restarting Episcopal congregations and returning Episcopal congregations to their church homes. We will ensure that all recovered properties serve the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church and thus serve our Lord Jesus Christ."New things," Bishop Johnston? Where have I heard those words before? Oh, yes -- another bishop in ECUSA said them (quoting Isaiah) just before embarking on the largest campaign of internecine warfare in the Chruch's history. "Returning Episcopal congregations to their church homes"? That very much remains to be seen, Bishop Johnston. And as for seeing that "all recovered properties serve the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church"? I've already pointed out the extreme irony in those words, Bishop Johnston, and you do not help matters when you add the non sequitur "and thus serve our Lord Jesus Christ."
I have every confidence that our congregations will thrive. The Episcopal Church is built upon and celebrates its ancient roots, but is a faith in and for the modern world. Join us in God's ancient yet new work.Begging the question again, Bishop Johnston. But that's where we came in.
[UPDATE 03/30/2012: If the Bishop's remarks in the Post were intended to be read as extending an olive branch, his diocese's post-trial conduct has been anything but. Indeed, it was such as to give the lie to the good Bishop, and in light of what has now occurred, to make his remarks appear as a calculated countermove on the PR front.
For today, Truro Church filed its appeal of Judge Bellows' judgment to the Virginia Supreme Court, and The Falls Church (joined by Truro) filed a motion with the trial court to stay the judgment and set a supersedeas bond. (H/T: Baby Blue. The Falls Church's notice of appeal is an exhibit to its motion.)
Once the court fixes the amount, the bond -- in the form of cash or an irrevocable letter of credit -- is posted by the appellants to allow the case to be heard and decided by the appellate court without having to first turn over all of their bank accounts and properties to the diocese. The amount is set by the court to compensate the latter for the "loss" the diocese would incur from not taking possession of the properties immediately, and from having to wait until the Virginia Supreme Court acts on the appeal. (As noted in an earlier post, the Court has complete discretion: it can take the appeal and set it for argument and decision, or it can decline to hear it altogether, in which case the judgment below would become final if not appealed further -- see below.)
This move is probably best understood not only as a consequence of the quasi-punitive post-judgment rulings by the Court, but also as a precautionary move to keep the judgment from becoming final while we wait to see whether or not the United States Supreme Court will grant review on the three cert petitions now before it from the Supreme Courts of Georgia and Connecticut. Whether or not the Virginia Supreme Court agrees to take the appeal, a petition for certiorari could be filed with the United States Supreme Court -- asking it to review either Judge Bellows' decision directly (if the Virginia Court declines to take the appeal), or any eventual decision by the Virginia Supreme Court (if it upholds Judge Bellows' decision).
Meanwhile, in a separate announcement, the Church of the Epiphany, in Herndon, announced jointly with the Episcopal Diocese that they had reached a settlement. (Thus Epiphany will not be filing an appeal.) The terms require the Church to pay $520,750 to the Diocese over a period of two years, without interest, and to vacate their buildings by April 30 (except for their day school, which will remain through the end of the school year).
A fuller post treating all these matters is up at Stand Firm.]


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Centre for Human Rights and Development - Swaziland statement
31 October 2012
The full realization of fundamental rights and freedoms
continue to be a myth in Swaziland as the Swaziland government is in the
process of adopting a code of practice for protesters. According to the Times Sunday,
this code is allegedly being drafted in conjunction with the International
Labour Organization (ILO) and trade unions. With the code, the government seeks
to regulate protected protest and industrial actions. Once promulgated, it will
be adopted as an amendment to the Public Order Act of 1963 which ILO and the
international community have called for review.
The Public Order Act regulates the holding of public
meetings in Swaziland and requires police permission for the holding of certain
categories of meetings and authorizes the police to control or prevent public
meetings. The order authorizes among others the gathering or assembly of
members of lawfully registered trade unions solely for purposes of that trade union's
lawful activities. Also the Act permits a gathering convened and held
exclusively for social, cultural, charitable, recreational, religious,
professional and commercial or industrial purposes. It is important to note
that the Act does not include meetings or public activities for political
purposes and as a result of this deficiency many political activists and
members of political parties have been arrested in the past for engaging in
such meetings. This Act has also been used by the government to restrict labour
movements from holding public gatherings and protest marches for collective
The government has intensified restrictions on freedom of
association and assembly in the past few years despite the constitution which
guarantee same. According to section 24 of the Constitution, a person has a
right to freedom of expression and opinion and such shall not be hindered
without the free consent of such person. Furthermore, the Constitution
guarantees the rights to freedom of assembly and association in section 25.
Under the proposed code workers would be required to obtain permission of the
route they will use for their protest from the municipality and further notify
the police of the starting time and the estimated number of participants. Notably
is the discretion that is vested on the police to determine if a protest action
will be a danger to public peace and deny permission for holding such event.
According to the code, the police have a general duty to uphold the law and may
intervene if there is reasonable apprehension of breach of peace and
particularly if there is anticipated violence.
In Swaziland, the police have been very brutal on
protesters resulting to deaths and severe injuries. Workers have been beaten
and arrested by the police for wearing and carrying promotional material for
the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) which was deregistered by the
Swaziland government early this year. The Swazi government has used the police
and other security agents to intimidate and punish protesters who challenge the
current regime. During Swaziland's human rights status review in March this
year, the international community recommended that the Public Order Act and
other repressive laws be reviewed to allow the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms.
This proposed code is therefore nothing but a reaffirmation of the Public Order
Act since it does not include activities by political parties and bestow a wide
discretion on the police. If the code is eventually adopted by stakeholders we
anticipate the continued refusal by the police and local authorities to grant
permission for protest marches and the strategic deployment of mass security
agents who at times even outnumber protesters.
+268 2504 0913
ALERTS@DignityFirst is a periodic update on global issues
touching on human rights, good governance and democratisation, issued by the
Centre for Human Rights and Development operating out of Swaziland
(www.dignityfirst.org). Recipients are urged to circulate information and share
with colleagues in their networks.
** Putting Human Dignity First!**


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Why Doesn't My Data Match?
All reports generated on FOIA.gov are based on data taken directly from agencies' Annual FOIA Reports. Occasionally, agencies will have to make an alteration to a value from a prior year's report, and this may result in a discrepancy in a particular field from one year to the next. Additionally, please note that FOIA.Gov contains data from all agencies for Fiscal Year 2010, and contains data from many, but not all agencies for Fiscal Years 2008 and 2009. FOIA.gov users are encouraged to review agencies' full, human-readable reports, which contain footnotes and explanations for such discrepancies. All federal agencies' Annual FOIA Reports are available on the Department of Justice's Office of Information Policy website.
Last Updated: 6/2011


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RGIS is an acronym for Retail Grocery Inventory Services. Early success allowed us to scale our business model and rapidly expand into other sectors. Decades later we have far outgrown our name. RGIS now performs more than 174,000 inventories globally per year for companies of all types and sizes.
RGIS has offices throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific...
With 3,000 Global customers and more than 174,000 inventories completed around the world, we have the resources in the right place to reliably and efficiently complete any project.
Creates Retail Grocery Inventory Services in 1958. Headquarters moves from the basement of the Nicholson home to an office in Detroit, Michigan.
New offices open in Illinois, Florida, Wisconsin, Ohio, Missouri, Indiana, Louisiana and Minnesota. RGIS also creates an international presence in Canada.
RGIS invests in new technologies, introducing the SCM electronic calculator and the custom-designed TJN calculator.
RGIS launches the Audit® microcomputer – proprietary technology. RGIS also develops an HQ Data Center for processing information.
Global reach increases with offices in Mexico, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Israel and Brazil. Technology takes a quantum leap forward with the introduction of the Portable Financial (PORTFN) program.
Offices open in ten more countries. RGIS releases the RM-1 wireless scanner and revolutionizes the way inventory data is captured. Blackstone acquires RGIS.
Advances in wireless technology and software make real-time reporting possible. Mobile apps add new levels of insights and transparency.
Acquisition of Ivalis in Europe and Brazil as well as WIS UK and Mexico increases and strengthens global reach, along with Franchise opportunities being offered. Investment in state-of-the-art advanced technology provides innovative inventory solutions for customers including NGEN Cloud, Voice Count, Finger Laser and RFID.
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Information Officer - International
Chief Financial Officer – International
General Counsel and DPO - International
President, Asia Pacific
President, Europe
Vice President of Operations – International
Director of Global Expansion


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Technology Transfer Network - Air Toxics Web Site
Mercury Resources
Links to Mercury Resources
- NRC/NAS Report; Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury (July 2000)
- Draft report, Reference Dose for Methylmercury (October 2000)
- Water Quality Criterion for the Protection of Human Health: Methylmercury (December 2000)
- Utility Air Toxics Determination: Rule (December 2000)
1997 Mercury Study Report to Congress
EPA's 1997 Report to Congress on Mercury is an eight volume document. The short overview gives a concise summary of the report. The eight volumes of the December 1997 report (EPA 452/R-97-0003) are also available for download below in Portable Document Format (PDF). The entire set (PB98-124720) can be ordered from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS) or each volume can be ordered individually from NTIS using the PB numbers noted below.
- Volume I: Executive Summary(PB98-124738)
- Volume II: An Inventory of Anthropogenic Mercury Emissions in the United States(PB98-124746)
- Volume III: Fate and Transport of Mercury in the Environment(PB98-124753)
- Volume IV: An Assessment of Exposure to Mercury in the United States(PB98-124761)
- Volume V: Health Effects of Mercury and Mercury Compounds(PB98-124779)
- Volume VI: An Ecological Assessment for Anthropogenic Mercury Emissions in the United States(PB98-124787)
- Volume VII: Characterization of Human Health and Wildlife Risks from Mercury Exposure in the United States(PB98-124795)
- Volume VIII: An Evaluation of Mercury Control Technologies and Costs(PB98-124803)
The Report provides an assessment of the magnitude of U.S. mercury emissions by source, the health and environmental implications of those emissions, and the availability and cost of control technologies. As the state-of-the-science for mercury is continuously and rapidly evolving, this Report should be viewed as a "snapshot" of the 1997understanding of mercury.


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In today's challenging beauty market, marketers and suppliers need every competitive edge they can get. Companies pursuing global sourcing for the competitive cost advantages it offers is nothing new—neither is the fact that delays caused by customs problems, information snags, missing or ill-prepared shipping documents or inappropriate cargo routing can eat up those cost savings in a hurry. When it comes to logistics, speed is second only to reliability as the competitive edge companies want—though too many companies seem resigned to accepting shipping delays as a necessary evil. That simply should not be the case.
Speed Equals Planning
In the world of global sourcing and shipping, speed is actually synonymous with planning and preparation. Inadequate preparation, reflecting incomplete information about customs and shipping requirements, is the most preventable, and most costly, problem when it comes to inefficiencies in global sourcing. The industry needs to realize that advance planning, with the help of a knowledgeable logistics provider who knows what to plan for, can put shipments on the fast track while complying with even the strictest customs and security rules.
One excellent example of this is the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), a voluntary Department of Homeland Security initiative to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve overall international supply chain and U.S. border security. C-TPAT covers global imports from any country by any transport mode. This column will consider an aspect of the program that applies to motor truck shipments between Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Being Sound by Ground
C-TPAT is a voluntary government business initiative recognizing that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can provide the highest level of cargo security only through close cooperation with the ultimate owners of the international supply chain—such as importers, carriers, consolidators, licensed customs brokers and manufacturers. Through this initiative, CBP asks businesses to ensure the integrity of its security practices and communicate and verify the security guidelines of their business partners within the supply chain.
C-TPAT validation begins when importers and shippers apply for validation. This is a process through which CBP agents meet with company representatives and visit selected domestic and foreign sites to verify that supply chain security measures contained in the C-TPAT participant's security application are accurate and being followed. In cross-border truck shipments, for example, trailer and container integrity must be maintained through the use of a high security seal that meets or exceeds government security standards. Written procedures should stipulate how seals are controlled and include details on recognizing and reporting compromised seals and/or trailers to the CBP or the appropriate foreign authority. Only designated employees should distribute container seals for integrity purposes.
The advantages of being C-TPAT-certified mean that cross-border shipments move through customs and security faster and more efficiently. Key features include:
- a reduced number of CBP inspections, reducing border delay times;
- priority processing for CBP inspections, including front-of-the-line processing for inspections when possible;
- assignment of a C-TPAT specialist who will work with the company to validate and enhance security throughout the company's international supply chain;
- potential eligibility for the CBP Importer Self-Assessment program with an emphasis on self-policing, not CBP audits; and
- eligibility to attend C-TPAT supply chain security training seminars.
Prepare for Air
It is apparent that, when shipping by ground, taking the time for preparation beforehand can produce shipment speed and efficiency at the border checkpoint. Switch the focus to another transport mode that typifies speed—air cargo—and both the potential delays and the planning that can circumvent them are equally apparent.
By August 2010, 100% of air cargo must be screened by Transportation Security Administration (TSA)-approved methods before being loaded on a passenger aircraft, with a preliminary requirement of 50% screening by February 2009. Screening must be done by breaking down pallet-wrapped shipments into individual items, with the number of pieces determined by shipper-level documentation. Significant carrier delays, cargo backlogs and transit time increases are inevitable without advance preparation.
That preparation comes in the form of TSA's Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP) to allow screening of cargo early in the air cargo supply chain by a trusted, vetted and audited facility. A facility approved for CCSP status must establish the integrity of a shipment through enhanced physical and personnel security standards, and verify the integrity of a shipment throughout the supply chain by utilizing stringent chain of custody methods. CCSPs can be located at shipping facilities, third-party logistics providers, warehouses and distribution centers, freight forwarding facilities or manufacturing facilities. Even producers that do not frequently use air cargo importing would be well-advised to establish a CCSP relationship.
The Planning Advantage
Previous Supply Chain columns have emphasized the efficiency of using a freight forwarding service, and it is important to note that freight forwarders can be certified members of both the C-TPAT and CCSP programs. This enables forwarders to facilitate efficient release of goods and prompt resolution of any outstanding issues affecting customs processing of shipments. The value of certification planning for freight forwarders and for any size U.S. importer of record is immense. Participation in these worldwide supply chain security initiatives ensures a more secure and expeditious logistics arrangement for all involved in the supply chain.
As shown by the CBP and TSA provisions, the government agencies responsible for customs clearance and homeland security are much more supportive of and willing to work with shippers that use sophisticated freight forwarding intermediaries. The best freight forwarders are at the vanguard of new technological advances and cutting-edge supply chain methodology. Their services can be customized for use by both the smallest and largest businesses and corporations. Freight forwarders can often find creative solutions where traditional supply chain handlers see obstacles. And they have the logistics insight to do the advanced planning that takes best advantage of their cutting-edge electronic tracking and documentation systems. The result is the kind of speed and efficiency at the critical point—border crossings—that eliminates delays and supports profitability.
Simon Kaye is founder and CEO of Jaguar Freight Services, with operations and fully integrated door-to-door freight solution networks in Europe, North America, South America, Australasia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. E-mail: [email protected]; www.jaguarfreight.com; 1-516-239-1900


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All Posts Tagged With: "organic beauty"
Carol Alt Interviews With Marta Walsh
I'm so excited to share with you my interview with one of the greatest supermodels of all time, Carol Alt. Any of you remember Carol featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1982? I was too young to remember but I do know I really loved her at NBC's 2008 The Celebrity Apprentice, with Donald Trump. On that show, Carol came across as not only a very beautiful woman but also very smart one. A type of woman I look up to. Carol is all about raw food and has a great book about the raw food lifestyle called: the Raw 50 (with David Roth forwarded by Nicholas J. Gonzalez, M.D.) I'm also very excited to let you know about Carol's skincare line called: RAW Essentials.
If you are into green and clean skincare products you might want to learn more about Carol's skincare line. I personally love the RAW Essentials Raw-finish Rigorous Face Scrub, RAW Eeentials Raw-juvenate Eye Recoup, and RAW VITA Eye Serum (image below).
In this interview Carol Alt talks about how did it all begin for her in the modeling world and some of her most memorable moments of her career. What led her create RAW Essentials and what makes it different than the rest. Gives advice to anyone interested in a RAW lifestyle and RAW food diet. Reveals what's in her makeup bag. Gives word of wisdom to aspiring supermodels. And future plans.
Marta Walsh: Your career as a supermodel and actress is undeniably impressive. How did it all begin? What were some of your most memorable moments of your career?
Carol Alt: Oddly, my career kicked off right after a breakup with a boyfriend at the time! I was spotted waiting tables during my freshman year at Hofstra University, where I was enrolled in Army ROTC. The modeling opportunity was the perfect excuse to get off of Long Island and embark on an adventure.